1. Field of the Invention
The present invention broadly relates to telecommunication services, and, more particularly, to a telephone service where a called party can block phone calls from a specific caller by simply instructing the telephone service provider's network for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telephones and telephone communication are so prevalent in modern society that they may be justifiably considered an integral part of human existence. Telephones are useful not only to carry out personal communication, but also to transact business. Telephones give their operators access to the world. However, because of the ease with which a telephone call may be placed, there may be times when the called party (hereafter, the “callee”) prefers to block unwanted phone calls from a calling party (hereafter, the “caller”). For example, a callee may not wish to receive any more phone calls from a telemarketer who interrupted the callee's dinner conversation with callee's friends. As another example, a callee may want to place a block on harassing phone calls from an unknown caller prior to reporting the incident to the police.
Telephone service providers (or telephone companies) provide many calling services designed to protect a callee from unwanted or undesired phone calls and also to help the callee identify the calls that the callee considers important. For example, the caller ID service lets the callee see the name and phone number of the caller trying to reach the callee—all before the callee answers the phone. The display unit for the caller ID service may also display the date and time of the incoming call. Thus, the callee can decide beforehand whether or not to take the call. In the call waiting ID service, the callee can view the incoming caller's name and phone number while the callee is on phone with another caller. The callee does not need to hang up on the current caller to receive the incoming call. In the anonymous call blocking service, the callee may request the telephone service provider to block calls from callers who prevent their names and phone numbers from being displayed on the callee's caller ID device. When activated, the anonymous call blocking service plays a message to the blocked callers instructing them to hang-up, remove their blocking, and call again.
It is noted that the anonymous call blocking service may block all the anonymous phone calls regardless of the identity of the caller. Thus, a callee subscribing to such a service may not be able to receive phone calls from those desired callers (e.g., friends, relatives, etc.) who happen to have call blocks placed on their phone lines. Furthermore, the anonymous call blocking service may discourage certain callers to perform the removal of call blocking and initiate another phone call to the callee. In such a situation, it may be desirable that the callee be able to receive the phone call first, and, thereafter, place a block on all the future phone calls if the caller of the received phone call is found to be undesirable or unwanted.
Of course, the callee always has an option to directly contact a telemarketer and request the telemarketer to remove the callee's phone number from the telemarketer's call list. However, such requesting may be burdensome to the callee, and, even after the request, the telemarketer may still fail, for whatever reason, to comply with the callee's request. To remedy such a situation, there is a subscription-based call-blocking service available to telemarketers. The service allows a telemarketer to provide a list of “do-not-call” telephone, modem, and fax numbers to the service, which, in turn, blocks all the phone calls placed from the subscriber telemarketer's establishment to any of the phone numbers appearing in the “do-not-call” list. However, a telemarketer may not avail of such a service and may frequently end up calling the callee who had earlier requested the telemarketer not to call the callee. This may be quite annoying and disturbing to the callee.
In a privacy protection service offered on a subscription basis by Ameritech of Chicago, USA, all calls showing up as “blocked”, “private”, “out of area”, “unavailable”, or “unknown” on a caller ID display of the service subscriber (i.e., the callee) are first identified by the service. Thereafter, the service answers such calls without ringing the subscriber's (i.e., callee's) phone—i.e., the subscriber remains unaware of such phone calls until they are allowed to go through by the service. The service asks the caller to give his or her name, which is then displayed to the subscriber callee. The callee can thereafter select whether to answer the call or to reject the call with or without appropriate voice message. Although such an arrangement offers privacy protection against unscrupulous callers or telemarketers, the manner of call blocking may be analogized with the anonymous call blocking service described hereinbefore where the service blocks calls from all callers (regardless of the identity of the caller) who prevent their names and phone numbers from being displayed on the callee's caller ID device. Thus, in such a privacy protection service, some desirable callers may also face call blocking along with some undesirable ones. The subscriber (i.e., the callee) does not have control over which caller is to be blocked and which caller is to be allowed to contact the subscriber. Furthermore, if a caller is unable to clearly identify himself/herself to the service because of, for example, the caller's age, physical condition, or the place and atmosphere surrounding the calling area, etc., that caller may not get a chance to speak with the subscriber even if the caller is not one of the unwanted callers.
It is therefore desirable to allow the callee to control the call blocking process and to selectively block those callers who are found to be unwanted or undesirable. It is thus desirable to offer a telephone service that allows the service subscriber (i.e., the callee) to respond to a phone call first, and, then, instruct the service to place a block on future phone calls if the caller is found to be undesirable or unwanted.